Innocent Victim
by Chrys-DASL
Summary: Franklin is a new student at Lakewood Elementary. Unlike most new students, Franklin remains completely silent and the teacher's don't push him. So, the students do their own detective work to learn his secrets. What they find out gives them plenty reason to leave the young turtle alone. One-shot. Rated T for adult situations.


_**Innocent Victim**_

The students in Mr. Ratburn's class were anxious. They knew a new student would be arriving that day, but they weren't sure when they would come. When Arthur noticed Mr. Haney knocking at the classroom door, he got Buster's attention. Soon the class had stopped their projects, and all eyes focused on the boy standing at the front of the room.

"Good morning, class," Mr. Haney smiled. "This is Franklin. He'll be joining your class for the remainder of the school year," he explained. Mr. Ratburn nodded, pointing to an empty seat across from George. Franklin moved there without a word, and the entire class immediately noticed that he was not a happy kid.

"Wow, they _never_ introduce the new kid without making him say _something_," Muffy gasped. Francine gave her a look, "How would you know? He's our first new kid in ages."

"Miss Sweetwater had a new kid just last week, and she made him tell everyone about his new school for an hour," Fern said, and Muffy nodded in agreement. Francine scoffed, "Well excuse me for not being so nosy. Do you think he's mute or something?"

At Arthur's table, Buster was wondering the same thing...sort of. Buster leaned close to Arthur, "W-W-What if he's an alien? Maybe that's why Mr. Haney didn't let him talk. He might not know our earth languages yet."

"Buster, that's just rude," Brain said darkly, putting the last touch on his part of the project. "He might be really nervous. Look at him. He won't even look up from the top of his desk."

Brain was right. Franklin's head remained down, even as George, Jenna, and Alex explained the project and tried to give him a part in it. He wouldn't look up, he wouldn't respond, and he didn't seem friendly to the group at all. They timidly finished up their parts, watching as Mr. Ratburn eyed his timer. When it chimed, George and Jenna carried it to the front of the room. Brain and Arthur carried up their part; Francine and Maria carried up their group's project. Sue Ellen and Binky attempted to carry theirs to the front, but Sue Ellen tripped, sending pieces flying.

"That's quite alright, students. I'll looked these over while you-," he stopped as the bell rang above him, "-enjoy recess," he finished, watching as the group filed enthusiastically out the door. Franklin followed them out, but when Mr. Ratburn peeked into the yard, he sat in the corner away from everyone.

Across the playground, everyone was talking about this strange new kid. Where did he come from? Why wouldn't he speak? No one had any answers. Buster wasn't allowed to say much thanks to his alien comment, but when he, Fern, and Brain got together, they all agreed that maybe they should look into his past.

"I can get his last name off the class roster online," Fern offered. "Then, Brain can go online and look him up. We can help too, Buster," Fern said. Brain nodded and the group had a plan. But Fern had one condition, "We shouldn't tell the others. This is devious detective work, but he gave us no choice. If he won't tell us who he is, we'll find out ourselves. But we tell no one else of our results until the three of us decide to tell. Agreed?" she asked.

"Agreed," they said together. Then they moved away from each other, and Fern decided to read under a tree. She watched the rest of the class as she did: Buster joined a game of hopscotch with George, Jenna, Alex, and Maria, and Brain joined Arthur, Francine, and Muffy in a game of catch. In reality, only Fern and Franklin sat alone, each for their own reasons.

After school, the three detectives met at Fern's house. They settled into her mom's office, then Brain worked his magic. Mr. Ratburn didn't use the school's new technology, which allowed teachers to post content online for further reading. The class was happy about this, but at the moment, it made his task more difficult: Because Mr. Ratburn didn't use the technology, the class roster wasn't available.

"We'll have to try something else," Brain sighed, moving back to the school's websites. "Do you think his records would already be on here?" he asked. Fern shook her head and Buster shrugged. "Maybe we could look up his name and age. He seemed like he was our age."

The three agreed, so Brain moved to a search engine and typed in "Franklin, age 8" into the bar. A few minutes later, results appeared, and the group sat speechless in front of the computer. After reading for what seemed like hours, Fern quickly hit the 'x' in the corner to make the page disappear.

"We tell _no one_ what we just saw," Fern said in a low voice. Buster and Brain agreed, both of them leaving a few minutes later in a rush to get home. All three cowered in their respective bedrooms, terrified of what they'd just read. At least they all now knew why Franklin was so quiet, and why the rest of their class should let him be that way if he wished.

**_Six Months Ago**_

Bear walked with Franklin towards home. They'd just finished up soccer practice and were eager to get to dinner. Bear kicked Franklin's ball into the yard, and it landed in its place in the side yard. The two waved and parted ways.

As Franklin walked into the door, he knew something wasn't right. Normally, he could smell dinner cooking already, but the only scent he smelled reminded him of fall when something foul made its way into the wood burner. He stepped into the living room, where Harriet lay on the couch, her purple bow sticking out from under a blanket.

"H-Harriet?" Franklin whispered. This wasn't her typical naptime, and the blanket covering her was not usually that shade of red. He pulled back the blanket, and when he saw what lay underneath, he flew across the wall, sliding into it and knocking two frames off the wall. Glass shattered as Franklin wept on the floor. 'Who would do such a thing to my sister?' he thought, trying to compose himself.

He then tried to be brave and went to look for his mother. Maybe she wasn't home when it happened. Maybe she could make some sense out of this nightmare.

But what happened to her was worse. Franklin couldn't even look at the mangled mess, and he ran from the house screaming uncontrollably.

On the path outside, he ran into his father. He held his son, trying to control him, but Franklin ripped free. Soon neighbors knew that something was wrong, and they gathered at the house. Franklin's father sat on the doorstep, oblivious to the gathering crowd. Mr. Mole finally approached, but the man wouldn't acknowledge him. He stepped into the house as Bear and his family arrived.

"What's going on?" his mother questioned. No one had any answers as a man screamed inside the house. A moment later, there was a second scream, and Mr. Mole exited the house a changed man. He looked down to Franklin's father, who was still oblivious to the goings on, then he looked to the crowd. The men were gathered in the side yard while the women were asked to find Franklin. Bear's mom lead the search as Mr. Mole broke the news to the men.

"Do you think he had something to do with it?" Fox's father asked. Mr. Mole nodded solemnly. He knew the family's secret, that Harriet wasn't exactly the daughter the family expected. Her mother made a mistake, one that wasn't discovered until recently. He kept his mouth shut, but he knew the men had to do something.

"I'll go to the post office and send a telegram to the next town," Bear's father offered. The rest of the group watched him leave, taking a few children away from the scene as well. Then, they took Franklin's father to Mr. Mole's house, where they waited until after nightfall.

Soon, word reached the town that his brother was dead. It was similar to the killings inside the Turtle house, and the town grew scared. Had this man committed all of the murders? It was too late to find out now, and he certainly wasn't talking.

Around midnight, Bear's mother found Franklin cowering under a bridge. The recovery process had to begin, and she took the child in. But as days passed and more evidence was gathered, the police got more and more involved in his life. Franklin would be a figurative orphan now, his mother dead and his father in prison. The real killer wasn't him, but he'd certainly paid quite a bit of money to a sick traveler to do the deed instead.

Franklin was taken in by the state, who wanted to move him completely from the area. They found him a foster family in Elwood City, and Franklin moved their immediately. But he was forever changed and just as silent as his father.

**_Present Day**_

Fern, Brain, and Buster spread the word quickly that people should leave Franklin be. People asked questions, but the three young detectives provided no answers. No one needed to know what happened in Franklin's life, and the three regretted finding out the information themselves.

Soon the school year ended, and because Franklin was never seen around town, the kids all but forgot about him. Life moved forward, and the students prepared to return to Lakewood Elementary for fourth grade as summer came to an end.

But when they arrived, Franklin wasn't there. People asked questions again, but this time, the three detectives stayed out of it. Wherever he was, it was his business and his business only, and they kept their distance from such things in the future, hoping they would never find out information like that again.

~End

_Theme: Victim_

This theme is from my infinite one-shot challenge, all categories (aka all fandoms. I have another list for just Arthur. It's actually the same list^^; I just wanted to add more spice). For more information, PM me.


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